Liquid and semi-liquid dispensing containers



June 12, 1956 J. G. MORAN 2,7

LIQUID AND SEMI-LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINERS Filed Sept. 11, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ENTOR. Jam 6. n

June 12, 1956 J. G. MORAN LIQUID AND SEMI-LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 11, 1952 IN VEN TOR. L/kME-S 6. Mann" Jimmy United States Patent LIQUID AND SEMI-LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINERS James G. Moran, Burbank, Calif.

Application September 11, 1952, Serial No. 309,012

6 Claims. (Cl. 222-490) This invention relates to containers from which liquid and semi-liquid materials may be dispensed and particularly but not necessarily to expendable containers of this kind. Such containers are commonly used for hold- 'ing and dispensing tooth paste, shaving cream and other cosmetic materials. This invention, however, is not limited to containers for these materials.

These dispensing containers are usually capped tubes or other holders of flexible, collapsible walls which may be manually pressed together to extrude the material through a neck at one end of the tube. This neck is usually closed with a threaded cap which is removed when it is desired to express and use some of the material within the tube.

A number of tubes and caps have been so designed that it is not necessary to remove the cap in order to express some of the contents. The cap is made with a valved opening which is normally closed, but which opens when subjected to internal pressure of the material within the tube. This pressure is usually intentionally applied. On the other hand, the contents may he accidentally forced out through this orifice in the cap, as when the tube is packed in a luggage article and is subjected to pressure from surrounding objects, or when accidentally subjected to any other pressure than the manual pressure which is used at the time the material within the tube is intentionally extruded for use. Various means have been devised by which the pressure of the material within the 'tube may be prevented from acting upon the valve orifice. Such means may be termed a locking arrangement. In dispensing tubes equipped with these locking arrangements the lock may be made effective or ineffective at the will of the user.

It is the object of this invention to provide a construction of tube and cap of simple character, of sure operation, of compact size and of inexpensive manufacture, from which the material may be readily expressed by squeezing the tube without removing the cap, and which may be locked to prevent the material from being expressed by such squeezing of the tube walls.

" In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tube embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a View, partly in vertical section, of the neck ofa tube and the cap associated therewith which embody the invention, the cap being shown in a closed or locking position.

Figure 3 shows, in similar vertical section, the tube and cap of Figure 2 with the cap in unlocked position.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the tube and cap shown in Figures 2 and 3.

Figure 5 is a similar vertical section of a tube and cap embodying the invention in a different form and showing the cap in full lines in unlocked position and in dotand-dash lines in locked position.

Figure 6 is a similar vertical section showing the invention in another form, the cap being shown in unlocked position.

Figure 7 is a similar vertical section showing the invention in still another form, the cap being shown in unlocked position.

Figures 8, 9 and 10 illustrate another form of the invention. Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view. Figure 9 is a horizontal section taken along the line 99 of Figure 3. Figure 10 is a side elevational view of the tube taken in the direction indicated by the arrow 10 on Figure 9.

The invention is capable of various other embodiments. It is not limited to any one embodiment, but is defined in the appended claims,

In the drawing, Figure 1 shows a tube and cap embodying the invention. The tube walls are flexible and collapsible and may be made of any suitable metallic or plastic material such that when manually squeezed the material within the tube will be expressed through the cap. Other means, however, than the manually collapsible walls may be used to force the contents from the tube. The tube 11 has a sidewall 12 and a neck 13 (Figure 2) of thicker and less deformable material joined to the cap by a sloping shoulder 14-.

The neck is threaded as shown at 15. A cap 16 having a head 17 and an annular side wall 18 is internally threaded on its side wall as at 19 so that the cap may be screwed inwardly upon the neck 13 or removd therefrom.

The head 17 has a circular plane under surface 20 which, when the cap is in its home position, engages an annular radial surface 21 at the outer end of the neck 13, preventing movement of the material within the tube past the cap and locking the contents of the tube therein in an etfective simple manner.

Over a small are 22 (see Figure 4) the side wall 18 of the cap and preferably also the end wall or head 16 of the cap is hollowed out to provide a chamber 23. The upper and lower Walls 24 and 25 of this chamber,

are so shaped as to provide relatively thin lips 26 and 27 between which lies a short elongated orifice 28. The lips 26 and 27 are, in the absence of any internal pressure, held in contact With each other, preventing any material within the tube, which had found its way into the chamber 23, from being extruded through the orifice 28. However, due to the resilient flexibility of the material of the cap, the relatively thin lips 26 and 27 are flexed outwardly to open the orifice 23, as shown in Figure 3, when subjected to internal pressure of the material within the chamber, and these lips again assume a closed position upon release of the pressure.

.This pressure cannot be applied to the lips 26 and 27 when the cap is in the position shown in Figure 2 because the undersurface 20 of the head 17 of the cap is in sealing contact with the annular rim 21 at the end of the neck 13. When it is desired to express some of the contents of the tube through the orifice 23, the cap 16 is unscrewed a short distance as shown in Figure 3, to provide a new chamber 45 which places the chamber 23 in communication with the chamber 29 within the neck 13, allowing the material within the tube, when the sidewalls 12 of the tube are pressed together, to flow over the annular end face 21 of the neck into the chamber 23 and out through the orifice 28, the lips 26 and 27 of which separate when subjected to this pressure. It will be observed, that in order to effect communication between the chamber 23 and the chamber 29 when the cap is unscrewed, the lower bounding surface 24 of the chamber 23 must intersect the threaded side of the neck 13 at a level spaced substantially below the under surface 20.

The relative position of the upper bounding surface 25 of the chamber 23 is determined by other considerations than the need to provide a communicating passage between the chamber 23 and the chamber 29. To illustrate the point, Figure 5 shows the upper bounding surface 25' of the chamber 23' as below the upper end of the neck. This simply requires that the cap must be unscrewed a little further in order to establish communication between the chamber 23 and the chamber 29.

It will be observed that in Figures 2 and 3 the cap is shown with the outer surfaces of its head 17 and of its side walls 18 meeting in what may be described as an annular ridge 30, giving the cap a pleasing design and providing a convenient place for the disposition of the orifice 28. The bounding Surfaces 24 and 25 of the chamber 23 may then be so designed as to provide relatively thin walls adjacent the orifice 28 permitting the lips 26 and 27 to be readily fiexed under pressure when the tube walls 12 are squeezed together. With proper modification of design, however, the orifice 28 may be located at other positions on the cap.

For example, the orifice may be located as shown at 31 in Figure 6. In this form of the invention the cap is formed with a central upper chamber 32 which when the cap is unscrewed as shown in Figure 6, communicates with the neck chamber 29 through a bypass chamber 33 in the side wall of the cap and the new chamber 46 appearing at the upper end of the chamber 29. The lower end surface 34 of this bypass must be at a level below the upper end of the neck 35 of the tube when the cap is screwed to its home closed position.

In Figure 7 still another modification of the invention is shown. The cap 36 has a central upper chamber 38 with a plug 37 which fits within the side wall of the neck 41. An opening 42 in the side wall of the plug connects the chamber 38 with the chamber 43 through the chamber 40 which is formed when the cap is unscrewed. The lower sidewall 39 of the hole 42 must obviously be below the upper end of the neck 41 when the cap is screwed down into closed position.

In the modification of the invention shown in Figures 8, 9 and 10, the neck 50 is closed at its upper end by a transverse wall 51. The neck 50 is ported at 53 immediately beneath the transverse wall 51.

The cap 54- is dome shaped at its upper end and formed with a chamber 55 which extends downwardly from an orifice 62 to the transverse lower surface 57 of this upper end portion of the cap. Over a limited arcuate portion of the cap, a bypass 56 is formed which communicates with the chamber 55 and extends downwardly of the sidewall 53 of the cap to a level 63 which is one-half of the pitch of the threads 59 below the bottom wall 61 of the port 53 when the cap is screwed down to its closed home position.

When new the cap is in the closed position shown in Figure 8 the bypass 56 is circumferentially spaced 180 degrees from the port 53. In this position no material within the tube may be expressed through the port 53.

By rotating the cap 5'4 180 degrees relative to the tube neck 50, the bypass 56 is brought into registry with the port 53 as shown in Figure 9, and if now the walls of the tube are squeezed together, the contents of the tube will be forced through the port 53 and the bypass 56 into the chamber 55 applying pressure to the lips 60 and 61 of the orifice 62. The material of the lips being of a flexible resilient character, they will open under this pressure permitting a ribbon of the material to be extruded. Upon release of the pressure these lips will resume their closed position.

I claim:

1. In a dispensing container for liquid and semi-liquid materials in which said container is provided with a threaded neck defining a port communicating with the contents of the container, a closure member comprising: a cap adapted to threadedly engage said neck; said cap having a chamber whose walls are common to the annular walls and head of said cap adapted to be placed in communication with said port when the cap is in one position; said cap positively closing off said port from the chamber when rotated on said neck to a second position; a portion of the walls of said chamber defining a dispensing orifice constructed to be normally closed and to open when subjected to pressure from within the chamber, the remaining portion of said walls of the chamber being formed to confine and shape the materials for easy egrees through said orifice.

2. The subject matter of claim 1, in which the portion of the chamber walls defining said dispensing orifice is of resilient material normally biased to close the orifice and adapted to be strained apart when subjected to said pressure to open the orifice.

3. The subject matter of claim 2, in which said cap is provided with an annular seat adapted to abut the annular rim of the neck of said container when the cap is in said second position to close off said port from said chamber.

4. The subject matter of claim 3, in which said chamber extends downwardly to one side of said neck to a position below the level of said seat.

5. The subject matter of claim 2, in which said cap is provided with a central plug defining the lower portion of the chamber adapted to fit within the neck to close 011 said port when the cap is in said second position; said plug having an opening in its side wall placing the chamber in communication with said port when the cap is in its said one position.

6. The subject matter of claim 2, in which the port in said neck opens laterally thereof, said chamber extending downwardly over a limited arcuate side of said neck below the top level of the neck, whereby rotation of said cap to the one position places the downwardly extending chamber portion in communication with said port and rotation of the cap to said second position moves the downwardly extending chamber portion out of registry with said port to close off the same.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,452,967 Freedman Apr. 24, 1923 1,647,215 Elsas Nov. 1, 1927 2,051,513 Bingham Aug. 18, 1936 2,143,661 Schrader Jan. 10, 1939 2,463,152 Clark Mar. 1, 1949 2,540,842 Stanley et al. Feb. 6, 1951 2,569,073 Robinson Sept. 25, 1951 2,583,340 Olsen Jan. 22, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 802,126 France Aug. 28, 1936 202,131 Switzerland Apr. 1, 1939 

